se-

Meaning

1. (morpheme) apart-, aside-, away-
2. (morpheme) without, lacking, wanting, -less

Concepts

-less

Synonyms

sine

in-

ne-

Translations

غير

sense

-los

α-

αν-

sans

senza

in-

dis-

s-

bê-

zonder

-loos

sem

Etymology

*s(w)ēd, the ablative singular of Proto-Indo-European *s(w)é (“self”) lengthened under phrasal stress. Note there's no hard evidence for a /w/ in Italic, which is likely taken from the possessive pronoun in other branches. The original meaning was "per se, by itself", whence "however, but" as conjunction and "without, away" as preposition, parallel to English only (“but”).
Doublet of sē as well as sed (q.v.), where the vowel shortened proclitically (or never lengthened). Cf. the semantically close vē-, which might also be a doublet with loss of /s/. Further related to suus (“one's own”).